Winter crisis - State turns deaf ear to homeless

IT was predictable that a Government whose policies have widened the gulf between the haves and have-nots in Irish society would turn a deaf ear to a protest by homeless people.

n PR terms it was a hard-hearted response to people so desperate to be heard that they breached security at Leinster House.

Armed with hundreds of sheets containing 20,000 signatures, the 10 representatives of homeless people up and down the country made it as far as the Dáil’s front door before being stopped by gardaí and Leinster house ushers. While such tactics should not be condoned, the protest has graphically illustrated the crisis facing homeless people.